Manhattan group sues to stop too-tall tower

From AM-NY:

A new lawsuit has brought a skirmish over a residential skyscraper on the Upper East Side to new heights.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, City Councilman Ben Kallos, and two neighborhood groups are challenging the city’s approval of a residential building with an art gallery, currently under construction at 180 East 88th St.

DDG Partners’ structure is slated to rise 524 feet, when including mechanical equipment.

In a lawsuit recently filed in New York County Supreme Court, the Upper East Side groups claimed DDG Partners created a micro-lot to skirt zoning rules that would have otherwise limited the building’s height to about 300- to 350-feet, according to estimates from Kallos’ office.

The lawsuit alleges DDG Partners created a small zoning lot where its property borders 88th Street, which it transferred to an entity created exclusively to own the new buffer lot. DDG Partners then successfully argued the rest of the property does not border 88th Street, according to the lawsuit. This allowed DDG Partners to avoid zoning rules requiring buildings along 88th Street to use tower-on-a-base designs, where 55 percent of the building’s bulk is concentrated below a height of 150 feet, according to the lawsuit. The design standard can indirectly limit the overall altitude of buildings.

The Upper East Side groups have taken a number of steps to challenge the city’s interpretations of the zoning rules and attempt to halt the project, including appealing its decision with the city Board of Standards and Appeals.

Rent stabilized tenants cannot profit from AirBnB

From Crains:

A Manhattan Housing Court judge has ruled that rent-stabilized tenants can’t double-dip — or get a financial break and turn around and make money peddling their pads to tourists on websites such as Airbnb.

The ruling is the first to outright evict a tenant under rent controls without giving him a second chance, said Frank Ricci of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents more than 25,000 landlords.

And the decision lays down the law for most of the 35,354 Airbnb listings in the city, whose hosts make about $304 million in revenue, said state Sen. Liz Krueger, an opponent of the site.

While Justice Jack Stoller’s decision is not considered case law, it can be cited in rulings to thwart would-be Airbnb users.

Stoller was incensed over a subletting scheme by Hell’s Kitchen tenant Henry Ikezi and ordered him evicted from his discounted two-bedroom penthouse by the end of the month.

No one's home at the Pied a Terres

From the NY Times:

The question of who, if anyone, lives in the multimillion-dollar condominiums being built across Manhattan grows more intriguing with every new tower crane that hoists glass slabs and concrete blocks hundreds of feet into the sky.

New Yorkers want to know: Who are these people who hide behind limited liability companies while shelling out a fortune for a condominium — who see the apartment as an investment or even just a vanity play, and who are too busy sunning in St. Bart’s or skiing in Gstaad to actually show up and shop at the local market or pay for tickets to a Broadway show?

Many well-heeled New Yorkers are frustrated that while a large share of their income goes to taxes of all kinds, their non-New Yorker neighbors down the street pay a comparatively minuscule amount in property taxes. And an evening stroll through Midtown is starting to feel like the Wild West after the gold rush, with buildings like the Plaza — officially the Plaza Pied a Terre Hotel Condominiums — sitting mostly dark. It wouldn’t surprise some of us to see tumbleweed blow by the Apple cube on Fifth Avenue.

As it turns out, this is not just hyperbole.

In a three-block stretch of Midtown, from East 56th Street to East 59th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, 57 percent, or 285 of 496 apartments, including co-ops and condos, are vacant at least 10 months a year. From East 59th Street to East 63rd Street, 628 of 1,261 homes, or almost 50 percent, are vacant the majority of the time, according to data from the Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey.

“My district has some of the most expensive land values in the world — I’m ground zero for the issue of foreign buyers,” said State Senator Liz Krueger, whose district includes Midtown. “I met with a developer who is building one of those billionaire buildings on 57th Street and he told me, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t need any more services, because the buyers won’t be sending their kids to school here, there won’t be traffic.’ ”

The developer told her that the buyers basically would never be here, Ms. Krueger said. “He said it like this was a positive thing,” she added. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

Well as far as providing services, that is a positive thing. As far as keeping cost of living reasonable, it's not.

Closing a campaign loophole

From the NY Times:

In New York State, a politician can retire, go to jail or even die without losing the right to maintain a working campaign fund.

After a state politician leaves office, it’s time to close shop, including the campaign fund. If donors do not want their money back, any extra could go to charity or schools or something else useful. Yet, as the New York Public Interest Research Group has documented, former politicians in New York State have over $10 million sitting in their various campaign accounts.

State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, is one of several lawmakers trying to get rid of these permanent treasuries. Her bill would require that former politicians’ funds be closed out within four years of an election or the last day in office, whichever comes later, and within a year after death. The money could go to a charity, the state university system, the state’s general fund or a working campaign. Like most campaign finance reform bills in Albany, this one is stalled by those who enjoy the status quo.

New York also has scandalously high contribution limits and scandalously minimal efforts at enforcement when those limits are broken. The only real solution is to provide public matching funds for small contributions. That model should be the next step when Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators return to work in Albany.

Who is worse: Toby or Pinky?

From the Daily News:

Some advocates for women are saying state Senate candidate John Messer should dump disgraced former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher as a political advisor.

Gallagher, who pled guilty to sexual abuse in 2008, is currently fighting a civil lawsuit filed by his victim.

Messer has launched an aggressive primary challenge to state Sen. Toby Stavisky for the Democratic nomination.

“This, in my opinion, shows incredibly poor judgement,” said state Sen. Liz Krueger.
“I don’t know Mr. Messer but I know quite a bit about the history of Mr. Gallagher. He continues to argue that the woman he violated shared some responsibility for that action.”

Messer’s supporters downplayed Gallagher’s involvement in the campaign — saying he has no direct role.

“Why would you want someone like that working for you?” asked Ann Jawin of the Center for the Women of New York.

Messer and Stavisky will have a rare joint appearance on Wednesday night at a forum sponsored by the Queensboro Hill Civic Association.

The event starts at 7 p.m. at New York Hospital Queens.

While the women's objection is nothing more than a 3rd party attack on a guy trying to upend the Queens Democratic machine, the reality is that voters really do need to think twice about anyone seeking advice from Dennis Gallagher. Why haven't Jawin and Krueger called out Peter Koo for also employing Gallagher?

Illegal hotel crackdown

From CBS 2:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is announcing the results of a crackdown on illegal hotels.

Bloomberg said Sunday that the city has taken action against 15 illegally converted hotels since May 1, when a new state law targeting illegal hotels went into effect. He said vacate orders were issued at eight of the locations.

City inspectors found one three-family house in Brooklyn occupied by 44 guests. They said the building had no sprinkler or fire alarm system.

Bloomberg said owners of illegal hotels put profits above safety. He promised that city officials will continue to do all they can to enforce the laws against them.

New York State Sen. Liz Krueger said the crackdown on illegal hotels will significantly improve the security and quality of life of New Yorkers.

Amazing...people die in a fire on Saturday, this video is released on Sunday. Coincidence?

Not everyone happy with illegal hotel bill

From the NY Times:

When the State Legislature recently passed a bill meant to stop the use of residential apartments as hotel rooms, tenant advocates and some elected officials spoke favorably of the measure, saying it would end a dangerous and unregulated practice.

Yet that reception was not universal, and in City Hall Park on Sunday afternoon, about 150 people gathered near the fountain, holding aloft placards denouncing the measure and calling upon Gov. David A. Paterson to veto it.

The demonstrators said they owned or worked at hostels or single-room-occupancy establishments that they feared would be harmed if the proposal became law.

“We provide jobs; we collect revenue; we pay our hotel occupancy tax,” said Ronnie Oved, who owns Central Park Hostel and Hotel 99, both on the Upper West Side. “And we bring people to the city.”

Under the proposed rules, such apartments could not be rented for less than 30 days.

State Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan, who sponsored the bill along with Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried of Manhattan, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that more than 300 buildings in New York City had residential units that had been turned into rooms rented for short periods.

As a result, she said, apartments were removed from the pool available to renters, and permanent residents sometimes had to put up with rowdy crowds.

“Longtime tenants, including the elderly, find themselves in a building with complete strangers riding the elevators, wandering the halls and partying at night,” Ms. Krueger said.

In addition, she said, residential buildings were subjected to less stringent safety measures than hotels, making them dangerous when they are used to house large numbers of visitors.

She added that the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supported the measure.

State bill takes aim at illegal hotels

From the NY Times:

The Legislature is debating a bill that would attempt to stop landlords from converting apartments into hotel rooms without city permission, but the wording of the bill leaves open the possibility that tenants who sublet their apartments for short periods could technically be breaking the law as well.

State Senator Liz Krueger, one of the bill’s sponsors, said that legislators had wrestled over the wording for three years and it was therefore written carefully, though broadly. She said the bill could not attempt to individually address the seemingly infinite number of housing permutations that arise in a city in which moderately priced housing and hotels are scarce.

But people who regularly sublet their apartments while on vacation or extended work trips and organizations that help individuals, especially artists, find affordable short-term housing remained concerned that this law would close the door to a practice that is almost as old as apartment living itself.

The bill has received support from the Senate Democratic leader, John L. Sampson; tenants’ rights groups; the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer; and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. It also has the backing of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, and the Hotel Association, whose members have endured competition from the converted hotels.

In the past few years, a number of building owners, particularly on the Upper West Side, have turned single-room-occupancy apartments into cheap, no-frills hotels catering to a young European clientele looking to stay in Manhattan for less than $100 a night. Long-term residents have complained about being harassed into leaving and about construction going on around them.

Wedding bells for Hiram and Karla?

From CBS 2:

A top Senate Democrat is now calling for Sen. Hiram Monserrate to resign his seat following his conviction on a misdemeanor charge for assaulting his girlfriend.

The call by Sen. Liz Krueger of Manhattan follows a similar plea by the National Organization for Women.

NOW's New York chapter also criticized the Queens judge who acquitted the ex-cop Thursday on a felony charge that would have automatically removed him from office. NOW says it wants the Senate's Democratic leaders to find the courage to expel him.

Krueger says Monserrate, a fellow Democrat, is guilty of a disturbing crime and should resign.

Senate Democratic Conference leader Sen. John Sampson says they will review past practices and follow the law in considering what to do.

Joe Crowley is also calling for Monserrate's resignation.

From the NY Post:

"His conviction on a misdemeanor count, with jail time, that's the real concern," said a prominent Senate Democrat. "What are we going to do, leave him in the Senate while he's serving six months in jail?"

A Democratic strategist added, "I can see the brochure now: 'Your Democratic senator voted to keep in office a man found guilty of assault after he was accused of slashing a woman.'"

And also from the NY Post:

State Sen. Hiram Monserrate may be going from the courtroom straight to the wedding chapel.

Monserrate, who was acquitted Thursday of two felonies in the domestic abuse case brought against him by the Queens DA's office, is "headed" to the altar and plans to wed Karla Giraldo, his lawyer Joseph Tacopina told Fox 5's "Good Day New York" this morning.

"That's where it's headed," said Tacopina, adding that he may have "let the cat out of the bag" by blurting out details of the couple's relationship.

"Apparently, that's their intentions," added Tacopina.